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A party’s failure to file a response to a petition to confirm an arbitration award is not excusable neglect when the party took no steps to protect his legal rights, a California state court held.
In Freeman & Rishwain G.P. v. Brown, No. C051194, 2006 WL 3365975 (Cal. App. Nov. 21, 2006), an arbitrator entered an award in favor of Freeman. The parties’ dispute had centered on a partnership that they had formed for the purchase of property in Mexico.
The trial court granted Freeman’s petition to confirm the award. Brown failed to file a response to Freeman’s petition to confirm, which resulted in the court deeming Brown to have admitted all the allegations in the petition.
Brown asked the Court to set aside the judgment confirming the arbitration award because he did not have and could not afford an attorney and therefore did not understand the necessity of filing a reply to the petition to confirm.
However, the Court refused to vacate the judgment against Brown. The Court noted that Brown’s neglect was not grounds for relieving him of the judgment because he could have looked at the provisions of California law cited in Freeman’s petition, which would have alerted Brown that he must file a reply to the petition to confirm the arbitration award.
Since Brown failed to establish that he took any steps to protect his legal rights, the Court found that his neglect was not excusable.
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